I am looking to purchase a Wire feed welder to do 1/4" and smaller, 99% of the time ill be welding 1/8-3/16.

I have a Campbell hausfield 70amp unit now that I can make decent welds with however it is gutless and anything over and 1/8th thick even with a bevel is a PITA to weld.

Of all the cheep welders witch is the best?

I have looked at several welders on Craigslist and all of the sellers left me wondering how many generations of inbreeding had occurred. I don't want to spend $950 on and millermatic 225 that looks like it fell off the back of the truck once a week for 10 years.

This welder will serve my own personal jeep/trailer needs only, in the last year I have run through 12lbs of wire. Defiantly an occasional user.

Cambell hausfield and harbor freight are the only two cheepies I have looked at and I'm sure there are more.

the lincoln welders work great.... there having a sale on them right now also... you can get a lincoln 180 for 689.00...it is gas ready, and has the option for add on spool gun... and comes with a 200.00 automatic darkening shield. i effed up and bought one from HomeDepot and then seen that...

I have a Hobart 140 mig and it has worked well for several years. Norther tools has it for $495 shipped. If you are not looking for a mig but just wire feed, than they also have the 125 mig-ready for $320.

I honestly would just get the mig and a tank of gas. You get a lot better welds from it.

I have a lincoln 175.......got it off ebay for 500 shipped to my door brand new. really good welder. If they have a 180c for sale anywhere south of 700 I would jump on it. those aren't tap switch machines and allow for infinite voltage adjustment as well as wire speed which makes fine tuning beautiful. And as said before you can get a plug and play spool gun for the 180c.

I like the Hobart but its a bit more than I want to spend, I just don't use it enough to justify that price range.

The most critical thing I have ever welded was a cross member for my belly up and seeing it was all made of .120 1x1 it wouldn't take much of a welder to put it together. My little CH 70amp turned all the way up with the wire speed as slow as can hold a consistent arc will lay an alright bead on .120.

A friend of mine has a harbor freight 110 in the 1?? amp flavor and it has plenty of power but the wire feed is SO inconsistent not even his dad a welder by trade for 20 years can lay a good bead.

When I go to thicker steel I use a smaller (thinner) wire. Its not always the welder isent big enough its that you are using the wrong size wire. Thats just me and it works for me.

I'm using .030 flux core, With gas the welds look nicer but damn there weak w/ very little penetration.

I have done a fair amount of research and Im thinking scooters suggestion fits the bill perfectly.

If I want to fab a bumper/tire carrier Ill go to my dads house and use the millermatic (spool gun and tig available). The purpose of the welder I'm purchasing is to keep the small projects in my garage. Body work, welding perches/brackets on ect.

Seems alot of people have the Hobart 140(Handler). Its a nice unit, I used one for about 6 months and had no complaints with it. I recently bought a Lincoln 140T which is pretty much the same thing as the Hobart, but it seems to have better speed control, and the liner feel thicker and better quality to me. Also I bought a HF 90 Amp Flux welder for exhaust/body work, and for what I paid for it, it is a sharp little welder.

I am currently waiting for a funds transfer to go through then I will order a Millermatic 211. You can weld up to 3/8 with it and if you decide to go to aluminum later it only involves buying a gun. The dual power feature is something that I find hard to turn down also. Oh and the remote foot pedal but that can be made to work with other welders by simply switching out the feed plug.

You can spend a bit more upfront and have less headaches later or go cheap up front and pay more later because of it.

Eventually your going to want to weld up some bumpers, or weld to the frame, and will find that some "hobby" welders are not up to the task. You can pay $600 for a hobby welder or pay twice that for something that will not limit what you can fab. Just my 0.02